(UPDATED) Penguins Practice: Reilly Smith Excused, Carter Injured

CRANBERRY — Reilly Smith did not participate in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ workout at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex today, but he isn’t injured.

Instead, he reunited with his former Vegas teammates for a visit to the White House, where President Joe Biden honored them for winning the Stanley Cup earlier this year.

Great to see ya, Smitty 🍏 📣 🤠 #VegasBorn | @WhiteHouse pic.twitter.com/0reVaxoEFK

— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) November 13, 2023

The Penguins acquired Smith from the Golden Knights shortly after Vegas’ title run, when salary-cap issues forced management there to make some personnel moves.

Smith, who has worked primarily alongside Evgeni Malkin and Rickard Rakell on the No. 2 line, has six goals and six assists in 13 games.

Jeff Carter also was absent from the workout — coach Mike Sullivan said Carter is “dealing with an upper-body injury, so we chose to hold him off the ice today” — while injured defenseman John Ludvig was on the ice with his teammates for the first time since being hurt, wearing a white (no-contact) jersey.

Nedeljkovic works out

Injured goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic went through about an hour-long on-ice session with goalie coach Andy Chiodo before the main practice.

Nedeljkovic is on the Long-Term Injured list and cannot rejoin the lineup until at least Sunday.

At the conclusion of his workout, Nedeljkovic skated across the ice and gave a stick to a young fan who had watched part of his practice.